Rhythm and Rhymes

What happens when a party starts at 9AM? AJ recaps 9AM Banger, from the music and open bar to the ticket prices and the crowd. He and Antonio also talk about Spotify’s intimate Lagos show for selected Premium listeners, Seyi Vibez’s streaming-led No. 1 in Nigeria, NoCap’s Heaven on Mars , what they’ve had on repeat, and Asake’s bars.

Listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio go from COINTELPRO to the hip hop police to rap lyrics on trial, and ask who decides what gets pushed. Plus the debunked 1991 "secret meeting" letter, where conscious rap went, and a review of Tiakola's WpointM. 0:00 Cold open 0:45 COINTELPRO and the hip hop police 2:40 Lyrics on trial: Young Thug and Lil Durk 5:30 Do the ca...

Is Afrobeats’ global rise a story of talent, label investment, political influence, or overlapping forces? AJ and Antonio debate the Chocolate City/CIA claim, what counts as evidence, and how soft power might operate through music. Plus: AI tributes to deceased artists and a BXKS discovery. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open and introduction 01:00 The Spearhead video and its claims 02:00 Chocolate City: con...

Antonio breaks down UMG's licensing deal with ElevenLabs for a fan remix platform, what it could mean for DJs, and whether AI is a boost or just ease. Then: Rick Rubin's Jay-Z In 8 and whether song by song beats start to finish, AJ plays Antonio his first Bouyon, Jhené Aiko's Westside Whimsy, Rio The Young OG, and Unknown T's Listen. Subscribe + listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee...

Join the R&R newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/rhythmandrhymes We wanted to be at Afro Plus Fest. Then we saw how the weekend unfolded. AJ and Antonio discuss the storm, entry problems, and attendee reactions—and why criticizing one festival shouldn’t become an indictment of Black-led events. Also: Kanye West’s Chicago reunion, why Big Sean keeps catching strays, and whether Nemzzz’s L...

Subscribe to R&R on Substack: https://substack.com/@rhythmandrhymes Dolly Parton refused to give Elvis Presley’s team half the publishing rights to “I Will Always Love You.” Years later, Whitney Houston transformed the song into a global phenomenon—and reportedly made Dolly roughly $10 million in royalties. AJ and Antonio break down the ownership decision behind “the house that Whitney built”...

What allows Black music and cultural institutions to last? AJ and Antonio discuss Notting Hill Carnival’s 60th anniversary, Machel Montano’s new Brooklyn exhibition, Victony avoiding the sophomore slump, Ransom’s late-career consistency and whether Anderson .Paak and Cordae have lost creative momentum.

Does Afrobeats still describe a musical genre, or has it become an umbrella for nearly every globally visible African artist? AJ and Antonio discuss Ayra Starr’s StarrGirl , a controversial Dominican-Haitian collaboration, Erykah Badu’s return, and the Ghana-Jamaica connection on Junction . 0:00 – Afrobeats and the “urban music” comparison 0:28 – Does music really have no borders? 1:00 – The Domin...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio dig into who really owns African music that Western labels and collectors traveled in to digitize and distribute — walking through Analog Africa in Benin, the Éthiopiques series, and PMG in Nigeria — then argue out what "fair" even means when the preservation is the only reason the catalog has value at all. Plus Snoop's biopic throu...

See where music's going, and why: https://substack.com/@rhythmandrhymesGenres are getting harder to define. Artists like Don Toliver, Rico Nasty, Playboi Carti and Ken Carson are pulling from rap, punk, metal, electronic music, R&B and hyperpop, sometimes within the same record. But the bigger shift may be happening in how we listen. Mood, aesthetics, playlists, algorithms and DJ culture a...

Modern radio for global Black sounds

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio dig into why the "Shake It to the Max" remix — a billion streams, the first Ghanaian video past 200M on YouTube — was ruled ineligible for a 2026 Grammy, and what Gamma CEO Larry Jackson's fight to overturn it says about whether the stamp still matters. Plus The Spook Who Sat by the Door, BellyGang Cushington, and new J Hus. 0:00 –...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio run their ten favorite albums of the year — Tierra Whack, Drake, Vince Staples, Jules, Uncle Waffles, Alex Isley — then get into why the year felt dead: no anticipation, no mega-artists, and hip-hop becoming one crayon in a much bigger box. 0:00 – One word for the year: smooth vs. sporadic 0:30 – Antonio's 10 7:45 – AJ's 10 (and a delux...

📩 Join the R&R newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/rhythmandrhymes 🎧 Listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR If the State Department once used jazz musicians to sell American values abroad, who's doing that work today? AJ and Antonio play a game of "who's a plant" — Live Nation, the Saudi comedy shows, artists who go big in regions where America wants cultural...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio break down Suno's new "Spark" grant program for unsigned artists — including the "good vibes only" gag clause and the name/image/likeness language buried in the fine print. Then they get into ghost DJs and prerecorded sets, Jay-Z's marathon album rollout, and standout projects from Tierra Whack and K1. 0:00 – Suno, S...

📩 Join the R&R newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/rhythmandrhymes 🎧 Listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio get into Christian rap — and the line one of them draws between a "Christian rapper" and a "Christian who raps." Chance, Malice, Lecrae, Andy Mineo: who's boxing themselves in, who's giving you the full human experience through a...

📩 Join the R&R newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/rhythmandrhymes 🎧 Listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio break down Asake's new album "Money" and use it to ask a bigger question: is Afrobeats getting monotonous, or is that just an outsider's ear? One of us thinks Asake made the same album twice and his catalog peaked at "Mr. Money";...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR AJ and Antonio dig into Harborview Private Equity quietly amassing 41,000+ songs and $3.8B in catalogs — from Quincy Jones and T-Pain to Stefflon Don and Shenseea — and what it means when funders, not labels, start writing the checks. The conversation widens into ownership, Black wealth, and whether artists are becoming tech-startup founders who keep creative...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandRAJ and Antonio pull up the 1972 Harvard Report — the study that taught major labels to see Black music as supply chains — and trace its logic from Black Music Month to the World Cup stage to Vince Staples going independent.0:00 – Cold open0:45 – Black Music Month & the 1972 Harvard Report5:00 – Ownership vs. reach: was the major label system worth it?11:15...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandRAJ and Antonio trace the CIA's Cold War Jazz Ambassador Program — where Black artists were sent abroad as freedom symbols while denied rights at home — and follow that thread straight into today, asking who the government might be using now. They also break down the M.I.A. vs. Kid Cudi lawsuit, make the case for G Herbo as Chicago's best MC, and react...

AJ and Antonio trace the direct line from Miami bass record shops to DJ Marlboro's Funk Brasil (1989) — the origin story of baile funk — then pivot to the business: Ed Sheeran's amicable Warner exit, why major labels are still too big to fail (73.3% of all streams are catalog), and what Spotify's new AI remixes deal actually means for artists who let their music breathe. New music from...

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandRAJ and Antonio break down Drake's surprise triple release — Iceman, Made of Honor, and Habibti — tracking the bars, the pettiness, and the global pop instincts that still make him undeniable. They also get into the UMG deal exit theory, Drake's DJ-first music philosophy, and whether he's genuinely one Grammy away from matching Michael Jackson.0:00...

Subscribe for weekly conversations on Black music, culture, and the diaspora: https://www.youtube.com/@realrandrLucki has been hiding his influences in plain sight, referencing Lil' Kim, DMX, and Chief Keef on his album covers. Chris Brown dropped 27 songs and titled his album BROWN. Isaiah Rashad called his album It's Been Awful and meant every word. AJ and Antonio break down what artists...

Subscribe to Rhythm FM: https://www.youtube.com/@realrandr AJ went to see the Michael Jackson biopic — and left with more questions than answers. Not about Michael. About who's telling the story and why. We break down why the film feels surface level, what gets left out (The Wiz, Janet Jackson, Diana Ross), and how the same thing happened with the Bob Marley doc. Then we zoom out: when a label...

Is Afrobeats being extracted from Africa the same way natural resources are? AJ and Antonio break down why the sound is more profitable in the West than at home, the infrastructure gap, the buying power problem, and what it means when artists can make the beat without the culture. Then the Burna Boy DJ scuffle, the Nigerian DJ Association ban, and a debate on the Sexyy Red album. Real Rhythm &...